Lost and Found Read online

  Lost and Found

  Book one in the

  Once Upon a Moonbeam Series

  Mary Hamilton

  Copyright © Mary Hamilton, 2018

  ISBN: 978-0-9997711-2-9

  Once Upon a Moonbeam (poem) Copyright © Steven Hamilton, 2018, www.insidepassagebookroom.com

  Marzi’s Dream (poem) Copyright © Mary Hamilton, 2018, www.insidepassagebookroom.com

  Cover Design: BespokeBookCovers.com

  Once Upon a Moonbeam

  Once upon a moonbeam

  came a dark

  came a light

  coaxing her gently into a dream.

  Once upon a starry sky

  came the night

  came the day

  came the sense that she could fly.

  Once upon a morning sun

  came a foe

  came a friend

  once when day had just begun.

  Once upon a smiling face

  came a tear

  came a joy

  came a cloak of leather and lace.

  Once upon a newfound friend

  came a trust

  came a love

  one on whom she could depend.

  Once upon a god of old

  came a sign

  came a charge

  the stories centuries untold.

  Once upon a land of peace

  came a fire

  came a wind

  a burning rain leashed.

  Once upon a heart of love

  came a grief

  came a smile

  an eagle nests beside the dove.

  Once upon a moonbeam

  came a girl

  came a dream

  once upon a life, it seems.

  ©Copyright 2018, Once Upon a Moonbeam, Steven Hamilton, insidepassagebookroom.com

  For

  Chris, Scott, and Skyler

  (my constant sources of inspiration)

  and

  Steven

  (for everything)

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thank you to my favorite editor, Diane Luehrs, for all the time she gave, as well as her valuable input, critiquing and editing of this manuscript. To my wonderful and supportive husband, Steven, without whom this book would never have gotten published. Much love and thanks for all your help—dare I say—prodding, prompting, cajoling, bribing, and generally just lighting a fire under me when there wasn’t even a spark. I truly could not have finished without you.

  Marzi’s Dream

  An ancient sundering shattered the sky

  A terrible rift was born on high

  The warring world of three thrown down

  The earth lay still without a sound

  Their surface declines and failures teem

  While the heavens expand and abound with dreams

  Eons pass, till one day a girl

  Finds, quite by chance, there is more to her world

  Although riding moonbeams can be very fine

  Miss Marzi Gloam will soon out-shine

  The elves and ogres and humans afar

  And also the sun, and the moon, and the stars

  © 2018, Marzi’s Dream, Mary Hamilton, insidepassagebookroom.com

  Chapter 1: Pangrove

  “It’s not fair!” Marzi Gloam glared across the small table. Her normally loose-hanging pointed ears stiffened, protruding from her strawberry pink, shoulder-length hair, “Why does he have to go? The other kids don’t have to babysit their brothers while beam hopping.” Glancing over at the object of her angst, she clenched her jaw and narrowed her eyes, staring daggers at her pest of a brother.

  Her mother, as Azyrean mothers do, tilted her head and sighed. Her words came soft and measured. “He’s eleven now—almost twelve—old enough to start going out but I don’t want him trying it alone. It’s not too much to ask for you to spend some time with your brother, helping him learn.” She looked at Marzi without smiling but with no trace of anger—her gentle but firm expression came across as reasonable.

  Tovi grinned—that grin that always made things worse. The mischievous sparkle in his eyes conveyed his confidence. He was going to get his way despite anything Marzi could do or say. He always got his way. And he never let her forget it.

  She pounded her fist on the table and made one last attempt to change her mother’s mind. “Riding moonbeams is not for little kids.” But she sensed the futility of arguing.

  A smile painted her mother’s face, eyes softening. “And your brother is not a little kid. He will be into his teens soon. If you recall, you were out at the overlook when you were his age. You’re sixteen now and one day when you’re busy with a family of your own, you’ll wish you’d spent more time with him.” Her tone signaled the end of the discussion. There would be no more argument.

  Marzi got up from the table and headed to her room to change clothes. “It’s not fair,” she shot over her shoulder as she slammed the door behind her so she couldn’t hear the response. At least she’d gotten the last word.

  ◆◆◆

  Marzi ambled down the lane leading to the base of the slope. So far Tovi had displayed the good sense to refrain from gloating. He paced alongside his sister and kept quiet.

  “Since Mom put me in charge, you’re going to have to do what I say. When we get there, I’ll show you where to pick up the beams at the top of the slope. After you ride one to the bottom, a portal will appear. Step into it and it will return you to the top of the hill.” She tried to make it sound complicated but, in truth, there wasn’t much to beam hopping—just get on at the top of the hill, keep your balance on the way down, and be ready for the sudden stop at the bottom.

  “Okay.” It came out soft, subdued. But Marzi could feel her little brother grinning as he walked beside her. She didn’t even need to look at him. The little weasel had won again.

  She muttered under her breath, “One of these days.”

  Chapter 2: Pangrove

  Jarek sat in the straight-backed chair looking across the large wooden desk at his boss, Simon Dornan. The young Azyrean had been summoned before so this was nothing new.

  Dornan, the Director of Moonbeam Services, glared as he spoke. “And how long have you been with us now, Mister Whit?”

  Jarek forced a smile. “It will be six months at the end of this moon phase.”

  The Director leaned back in his chair, hands folded on his ample stomach. “And yet we’ve seen quite a bit of each other in these six short months, wouldn’t you say? Maybe too much.”

  “Yes sir.” The young gnome-like creature with oversized ears, large round eyes, and short but spiky brown hair lowered his gaze. He knew the routine.

  Dornan stared over the rim of his glasses and down his nose at his young employee. “Let us review, shall we? What is it that we do in our job?”

  Jarek was secretly amused at the way his boss always included himself when talking about the work, and yet, as far as the young Azyrean could tell, the fat old man had never been close to a moonbeam. I guess I’d better watch myself. I need this job. “We monitor the active moonbeams and, using the prismatic modulator, filter out all colored beams so that only the pure white ones are available to jumpers at the top of the ridge.”

  “And why, pray tell, is that important?”

  Jarek wondered whether his boss ever bothered to modify the lecture. It always came out the same. “Because the white beams lead directly to the bottom of the slope, where portals spawn to take the jumpers back to the top. Colored beams transit to other locations.”

  Dornan leaned forward, his hands now flat on the desk in front of him. “And if I may be so bold as to ask, where do these colored beams take jumpers?”

  Jarek shrugged. “I’m afraid I don’t know, Director.”
>
  His boss slammed a meaty fist down on the desk. “Exactly my point! Because I don’t know where the beams go, and this may come as a surprise to you, but the assembly does not know either.”

  “Yes sir.”

  The older Azyrean continued as if he hadn’t heard Jarek. “And so, your job is to make sure there are no colored moonbeams available to jumpers because, as we have just discussed, we have no idea where the beams would take them. Are we understanding this correctly, now?”

  “Yes sir.” The lecture wound toward its conclusion. He just had to hang in there a few more minutes.

  Dornan leaned into the desk and glared daggers at his employee. “So, Mister Whit, enlighten me. Why is it that when I was out on the slopes at evenlight yesterday I saw not one but three green beams and a blue beam?”

  And so, it came to this. Jarek had once again failed in his duties. To be fair, it wasn’t totally his fault. After all, the modulators were old and the driver crystals that filtered the various wavelengths of light were scratched and chipped, limiting their effectiveness. But using this defense would be the kiss of death. Instead, he just needed to grovel and promise to do better. “The modulating unit fell out of adjustment, and I took too long to address the problem.” There, he’d done it. He was going to bear the fault all by himself. That should satisfy his lout of a boss.

  Dornan narrowed his eyes as if he suspected the insincerity that Jarek tried to cloak. “I know that you are just an apprentice beam keeper, Mister Whit, but the job you do is rudimentary—simple enough for a child, and, at the rate you are going, you will never be a master. So, let me be clear about this. You and I will not have this conversation again. If you are not able to keep the modulators tuned, then perhaps you might be better suited to cleaning public toilets. Do I make myself clear?” He abruptly leaned back in his chair with a look of self-satisfaction and folded his arms on his chest.

  “Yes sir. Clear. No more colored beams.” That was the standard promise but Jarek had no idea how he would manage to uphold that promise.

  Chapter 3: Pangrove

  Marzi pointed up the slope as her brother watched. “The beams start there. You’ll see them. They come down like white ribbons, only wider. When you spot one, climb on in the flat area on top. Shuffle toward the slope a little and you’ll start to pick up speed. Balance yourself like this.” She extended her tiny arms straight out from her sides as she glanced down at Tovi, who stared intensely up the slope.

  “Does it go fast?” His words came out tinged with doubt.

  She decided to have fun with him. “Oh, yeah. Once you get on the main part of the hill, you’ll feel like you’re flying. Things whiz by, and the wind in your face is so hard that it stings.”

  He appeared a little nervous as he chewed on the corner of his mouth. “What happens if I fall off?”

  Marzi’s eyes twinkled and she laughed inwardly. “You don’t want to fall off. You’ll end up tumbling down the hill at the same speed; only you’ll hit every rock and tree on the way. I’ve never seen it happen, but I heard that a young boy fell off a beam a few years ago. By the time he got to the bottom, there was almost nothing left of him. They couldn’t even recognize him.”

  Tovi’s eyes widened. He looked up at her and then back toward the slope. He said nothing.

  “I wouldn’t worry, though. You’re a big kid. You probably won’t fall.” She knew perfectly well that if he fell off a beam he would drop into the soft mossy slope and remain there, a bit embarrassed but otherwise unscathed. However, the look on his face was worth the effort to construct the lie.

  “Are you going first?” He looked up at her with questioning eyes.

  This was turning out to be more fun than she’d expected. “I don’t know. Mom said I have to watch you. If I went first, I wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on you, now, would I? So, really, you should go before me. Don’t worry, you’ll probably be okay.” She could feel her long ears tingling with delight as she smirked. “Come on, let’s get up there.” She gestured toward the base of the slope.

  A girl’s voice caught her attention. “Hey, I thought you weren’t going to be here tonight.”

  Marzi glanced over to see her friends Miranda and Laeky approach. “Hi. Mom ended up letting me come.” She started to complain about having to babysit but decided against it. “This is my brother, Tovi.” She gestured in his direction.

  The newcomers smiled. The look on their faces told Marzi that they understood. After all, each of them had younger siblings. Laeky, a year younger than the two girls, turned and stared upslope. “Any action yet?”

  Marzi shook her head. “Nothing so far, but it’s hardly dark enough. Let’s get up there. Once it begins, they’ll come fast.” She started up the hill, guiding Tovi ahead of her.

  The beams came slow and weak while twilight descended. As darkness increased, so did the speed and intensity of the snowy white streaks of light. “Okay, Tovi, there’s one starting there. Grab it. Remember, start back on the flat area and ease toward the hill.”

  Her brother approached the forming beam with a visible hesitance. He stood and watched it for a few seconds before putting one foot on and then the other. Standing there, he put his arms out to his side. But because he had mounted in the flat area on top of the hill, he just stood there.

  “Go ahead, move forward.” Miranda offered encouragement.

  Tovi glanced back at his sister and her friends with a worried look. He turned and began to inch forward until he started to pick up speed. He jerked backwards briefly and then, as if he had been born to it, leaned into the slope and disappeared over the edge.

  Laeky let out a hoot and a cheer. “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. Nice one, Tovi.”

  Marzi felt a twinge of jealousy. These were supposed to be her friends. She kept quiet and waited for the next beam.

  ◆◆◆

  The evening began slow and uneventful for Jarek. The prismatic modulator seemed to function correctly, and the rate of beam appearance was lower than usual. Maybe he could get through the night without a major mishap.

  After about an hour, things started to speed up. The white beams came at closer intervals. Their intensity increased to a level he had not seen before. A scant fifteen minutes later, the first colored beams appeared—blue with its long wavelength first, followed by green and then red.

  The modulator kept pace, and all of the offending beams were shunted to ground, leaving only the white ones. But the pace quickened again, and more colored beams bombarded the hilltop. And then the prismatic modulator began to make a grinding sound. Jarek’s stomach churned as he opened the crystal containment housing to make adjustments. The black smoke that came out offered no encouragement.

  He stared in disbelief as smoke poured from the housing. He hadn’t the slightest idea how to fix this. As he waved some of the smoke away with his hand in order to see the inside of the device, a horrible sickness rolled into his stomach. There were kids on the slopes. He swore under his breath. “By the eternal cogwheel!” He shook his head as he shot up from his crouched position and sped to the door. By the time he cleared the building, his short legs pumped furiously, and his breath came harder.

  ◆◆◆

  Marzi sat down to take a breather. Three beams had taken the steam out of her. Miranda and Laeky plopped down beside her, and the three friends launched into a lament about the excessive homework assigned over the weekend.

  Tovi popped out of the portal exit on top moments later, a wide grin enveloping his little face. Rather than sitting down, though, he strode back to the area where the beams originated.

  Marzi shook her head and smirked. Little brother had gotten his confidence and had begun riding non-stop. She was secretly eager to see his first fall and the look of embarrassment on his face. She turned her attention again to her friends and the complaints about school. When she looked back toward her brother, what she saw confused her. A beam was forming and Tovi had climbed aboard. He was movin
g quickly toward the slope. What puzzled her was that the beam was blue rather than white.

  “Tovi, wait.” She shot up from her sitting position and ran toward her brother. “Get off that beam now.” She knew that they were not supposed to ride colored beams.

  He jerked his head around with a questioning look. By this time, though, he had moved close enough to the edge that the beam took over. The puzzlement on his face turned to terror as he disappeared over the edge.

  Marzi sprinted to the slope and looked down. The blue beam had disappeared. “Tovi. Get up here, right now. I mean it.” She scoured the dimly illuminated hillside but saw no sign of her brother. “Stop messing around,” she yelled as she bounded down the hillside. She could hear Miranda and Laeky running behind her. She stopped and held up her hand, signaling them to a halt. Listening, she heard what she feared the most—complete silence. Even the wind had died, and the insects had become quiet. Tovi was gone.

  Chapter 4: Pangrove

  Marzi bounded down the hill at breakneck speed dodging small trees and boulders. “Tovi! This isn’t funny,” she screamed, running in the dusky light provided by the three moons. As she approached the midway point, she tripped and tumbled into a soft cushion of moss. She started to rise but plopped back down, close to tears. She felt helpless, hopeless.